Courtney Shead (right) returned to action Wednesday for Northwestern State in its 51-45 victory over Southeastern Louisiana in the Southland Conference Tournament. She missed the previous seven games due to a knee injury. NSU faces Texas-San Antonio in the semifinals today.

The Lady Demons will be making their 16th appearance in the semifinals, second most of any league school. NSU is 10-5 in semifinal games.

"I think we got our tournament jitters out in that first game," NSU coach Jennifer Graf said. "The girls really aren't thinking about this being a semifinal, loser go home game. They're just going out and taking it one game at a time."

UTSA (22-8), last year's tournament champion, will ride a seven-game winning streak into today's game. The Lady Roadrunners have won 13 of their last 14 games and are 21-3 since starting the season 1-5.

"The key is going to be for us to deny (Monica) Gibbs the ball and play good defense," Graf said. "We're also going to have to do a good job on the rebounds."

Gibbs, the reigning conference Player of the Year, is UTSA's go-to player. She leads the team with 15.7 points per game and is second on the squad in rebounds with a 9.5 average.

UTSA has four players who average double digits in scoring and three players who are pulling down more than nine rebounds per contest.

For the Lady Demons, they'll get some help on the defensive end with the return of junior center Courtney Shead.

Shead played a game-high 33 minutes on Wednesday in her first game back after sitting out the previous seven games with a knee injury. She led NSU with eight rebounds and added four points.

"Having her in the game really makes a difference," Graf said. "She has that ability to alter shots."

UTSA and NSU met only once this season, that being a 74-69 win for the Lady Roadrunners in San Antonio.

In that game, Sherrion Thomas led the Lady Demons with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Brittiany Houston added 11 points and five assists and Renotta Edwards scored 10 points.

"When we played at their place, we got behind early then made a nice run to get back into the game," Graf said. "We need to get out to a quick start on Friday."